Capers get the ball rolling

SYDNEY — The Cape Breton Capers soccer teams hit the pitch for training camp starting Saturday, in the hopes of building on the success of last season.

The Capers women finished with an impressive 11-1-0 record to sit atop the regular-season standings in 2016. They came up short in the Atlantic University Sport semifinal against the St. Francis Xavier X-Women, losing a 1-0 heartbreaker in penalty kicks in a bid to repeat as champions on home soil.

Cape Breton Capers women’s soccer team defender Robyn Novorolsky is back for a fifth and final season this fall. CBU soccer teams open training camp this weekend and begin the regular season at home on Sept. 9 against Saint Mary’s.

But heading into training camp, the roster is bolstered by a number of key veterans. Although they lost graduating striker and leading scorer Chelsea Currie, back for a fifth and final season are defender Robyn Novorolsky, midfielders Tamara Brown and Alyssa Armstrong and keeper Lysianne Trottier. They’re joined by fourth-year veterans Becky Hanna on the back line and Keona Simmonds up front.

Novorolsky, Armstrong and Brown were AUS all-stars last season.

“I’ve never had that many fifth-year players before, so there’s some experience and leadership there that we’ll be looking for from those girls,” said head coach Ness Timmons. “With six new kids in, they’ll be contributing too, so it’s a good mixture.”

The Capers women will get their first real test at the St. FX Invitational preseason tournament Aug. 31-Sept. 1 in Antigonish. They open against the X-Women, and will be joined by both Dalhousie and Mount Allison.

“We play St. FX on Thursday, and that’s fine because that’s the last team we played last year and it’s laying out pretty good for us to start off the year with those guys again,” said Timmons.

On the men’s side, the Capers had a rookie-laden side that finished in second place at 9-2-1 and went on to win the AUS championship for the first time since 2012. Most of that roster is back.

But for bench boss Deano Morley, he’s not focused on what his squad did last year.

“We were a very young side last year, with 10 first-year players joining us last year that did excellent in winning the AUS,” he said. “But as I approach this year, the only mindset I have is that we lost our last two games (at nationals) and that’s the focus coming in. I want every player to know and everyone involved with the program to know that yes, we won, but it’s easy to win, but it’s hard to stay at the top.”

The key returnees include third-year midfielder Joel Eckert-Ayensa, who finished tied for the goal-scoring lead in the AUS last season with nine tallies, as well as speedy striker Cory Bent, who followed with five tallies in his rookie campaign. Team MVP and AUS all-star Daniel Pritchard will anchor the back end, along with the likes of all-star Peter Schaale and Stuart Heath. Another all-star, Marcus Campanile, returns to the midfield.

They’re joined by a crew of new recruits that Morley said are more than capable of jumping into the action.

“For the last year years, I’ve been working up to this moment of building up a complete squad,” said Morley. “We have some fantastic people, but first of all, great characters. People who are buying in to what we’re doing in the program. Second of all, some real great talent.”

Along with training camp, the Capers will play an exhibition match against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men on Sept. 2 in Antigonish. They’ll also do a team bonding session around the Cabot Trail.

The regular season opens for both teams at home against the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Sept. 9. The women play at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3:15 p.m. That weekend will be a reunion for women’s soccer alumni, which will include alumni games, a pep rally, socials and other events.